Advertising display sign



Get, 6, 1936. H. T. GORRIE 2,056,396

ADVERTISING DISPLAY SIGN 1 Filed Feb. 16, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l w WM L f ATTORN s.

Dot. 6,, 1 936., H T GORRIE 2,056,396

ADVERTISING DISPLAY1 SIGN Filed Feb. 16, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

BY v w V e? ATTORNEY;

Patented Oct. 6, 1936 Harold Thomson Gorrie, Toronto. Ontario, Canada Application February 16, 1934, Serial No. 711,531

4 Claims.

The invention relates to advertising display signs and more particularly to signs by means of which multiple images of the advertising matter to be displayed are caused to be produced by a plurality of reflecting mirrors.

The object of the invention is to provide an advertising display sign having a plurality of reflecting mirrors so prepared, constructed and arranged therein that the advertising matter to be displayed by the sign will be reflected back and forth between the mirrors in such a manner that there will be presented to the eye a series of images of said advertising matter.

A further object of the invention is to provide an advertising display sign of the character mentioned wherein the mirrors are so prepared, formed and arranged that the matter to be displayed by the sign will be reflected back and forth between said mirrors in such a manner that there will be presented tothe eye, a series of images of the advertising matter which appear to gradually reduce in size.

A further object of the invention is to provide an advertising display sign'of the character mentioned which is exceedingly inexpensive to manufacture and operate and which will present the advertising matter to be displayed in an attractive and novel manner.

Further objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1' is a front elevational view of the advertising display sign of my invention and showing a conventional form of a design used therewith.

H Figure 2 is a top plan view of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view of Figure 1, taken on the line 33 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 illustrates diagrammatically the manner in which the multiple images of the design of Figure 1 will appear to the eye-when said design is reflected back and forth between the mirrors of the sign constructed as illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3.

Figure 5 is a top plan view of a'modifled form of construction of a display sign made in accordance with my invention.

Figure 6 is a detail sectional View of Figure 5 taken on, the line 6-45 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure '7 illustrates diagrammatically the manner in which the multiple images of a design suchas shown in Figure 1 will appear to the eye when said design is reflected back and forth between the reflectors of the sign constructed in accordance with Figure 5.

Figure 8 is a top plan view of a further modifled form of construction of the display sign of my invention.

Figure 9 illustrates diagrammatically the manner in which the multiple images of a design such as is shown in Figure 1, will appear to the eye when said design is reflected back and forth between the reflecting mirrors of the sign illustrated in Figure 8.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a box I which forms an opaque chamber closed on all sides except one. This box may be made of any suitable reflecting material such, for instance, as sheet tin, or it maybe madeof any'other material, such as wood and then lined with a suitable reflecting material.

The open side of the box is adapted to be closed by a frame 2 in which are mounted two mirrors 3 and 4. The frame 2 is detachably secured to the box in any suitable manner. In Figure 2 a simple manner of attaching the frame to the box is shown. The frame is provided with rotatable eyelets 5 which are positioned on the frame so as to register with and pass through slots 5a. provided in flanges 6 of the box. When said eyelets have been positioned in said slots they are turned at right angles thereto and the frame is thus secured to the box. In Figures 5 and 8 a modified attaching arrangement is shown which consists in providing the frame with a resilient flange 1 having slots la therein and positioning rotatable eyelets 8 on the box so they will register with and pass through the slots in the flange of the frame.

The frame 2 is formed with a groove 9 in which is removablyypositioned the front reflecting mirror 3 of the'display sign. The frame is also provided with a recess id in which the rear reflecting mirror 4 is adapted to be mounted. The two mirrors are spaced apart by means of the rib ll formed on the frame.

In the box I, and back of the mirror i, there is positioned an electric lamp l2 which is provided with current from any convenient source by means of the wire [3.

The front mirror 3 of the frame consists of a sheet of glass or a sheet of any other suitable transparent material and has its rear face treated with a thin coating'of reflecting material such as silver or the like indicated at 30.. The coating of reflecting material is sufficiently thin so the said front -mirror will be transparent to transmitted light.

The rear mirror 4 may be a sheet of glass provided with a thick coating of silver Ma on its rear face, said coating of silver being of such thickness that the glass is not transparent to transmitted light.

The advertising matter to be displayed by'the sign such as the-design illustrated-in Figure '1 at 14, is reproduced on the rear mirror 4. This is accomplished by removing the silvering of the rear mirror as at 14 by etching or in any other suitable way so that the design will be transparent. The design may be reproduced as plain transparent glass or it may be colored by transparent colors after it is produced by said etching process.

From the above description of the construction and arrangement of the several parts of the ad- The illuminated design will also be seen by an 1 observer through mirror 3. The reflection on the mirrored surface of mirror 3 will be reflected back to mirror 4 and this reflection will be repeated back and forth so that to the eye of the observer when looking through the translucent mirror 3 an effect of a series of images of the design will be produced.

In the form of construction of the sign as shown in Figures 1 to 3, where both mirrors are positioned parallel to each other, the effect will be that of multiple images appearing directly behind each other and each image will appear to be of the same size and equally spaced from each other. The manner in which these images will appear is diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 4. It is obvious that if the spacing of the mirrors is Varied the distances between the reflected images will be also varied, and if the mirrors are moved closer to each other the images will appear closer to each other and if the distance between the mirrors is increased the images will appear further apart from each other.

In the modified construction shown in Figure 5, the front translucent mirror indicated at I5 having its rear face l5a treated with a thin coating of reflecting material is formed so that it is convex in shape. Also the front frame designated [6 is provided with a slot I! (see Fig. 6) so that the rear mirror 4 may be inserted and removed without removing the front frame from the box I.

In this modified form of construction, the design l4 reproduced on the rear mirror 4 will be reflected on the convex mirrored face of the translucent front mirror I 5 and such reflection will be reflected back and forth between the two mirrors in the same manner as in the sign shown in Figures 1 to 3, but due to the convex shape of the front translucent mirror the images will be reflected in such a manner that they will appear to the eye through the front mirror as though they diminish in size from front to rear. The manner in which the images of a design such as is shown in Figure 1 will appear to diminish in size is illustrated diagramatically in Figure 7.

The slot IT in the frame of the display sign of Figure 5 may also be provided in either of the constructions of sign illustrated in Figures 1 or 8, and will make it possible to quickly remove the rear mirror and replace it with another upon which a different design or advertising display has been reproduced.

In the modified structure of display sign illustrated in Figure 8, the front translucent mirror I8 is formed in a concave shape and by reason of this fact the images of the design appearing on the rear mirror will be reflected back and forth between the mirrored surfaces of the two mirrors in such a manner that they will appear to the eye, when looking through the front translucent mirror, as a series of images one behind the other but increasing in size from front to rear. In Figure 9 there is shown diagrammatically the manner in which the images of a design such as shown in Figure 1 will appear to increase in size in a sign constructed as illustrated in Figure 8.

It will be seen from the above description that an advertising display sign constructed in the manner above set forth can be provided at a small cost of manufacture and will present a very novel, mystifying and attractive illuminated display of the matter to be advertised.

- Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to cover by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In an advertising display sign, a chamber having its sidesformed of reflecting material, means for illuminating the chamber, means for closing the chamber comprising a frame having a convex shaped sheet of translucent material forming the outer face of the closure, said sheet having its inner face coated with a translucent reflecting substance, and a reflecting mirror coated with a non-transparent material positioned in spaced relation to the convex shaped sheet of translucent material and forming the inner face of the closure, said non-transparent reflecting mirror'having a translucent design produced thereon by portions of the non-transparent coat ing being removed therefrom.

2. In an advertising display sign, a chamber having its sides formed of reflecting material, means for illuminating the chamber, means for closing the chamber comprising a frame having a concave-shaped sheet of transparent material forming the outer face of the closure, said sheet having its inner face coated with a translucent reflecting substance, and a removable reflecting mirror coated with a non-transparent material, and positioned in spaced relation to the concaveshaped sheet of translucent material and forming the inner face of the closure, said reflecting mirror having a translucent design produced thereon by portions of the non-transparent coating being removed therefrom.

3. In an advertising display sign, means forming a chamber having internal reflectirng walls, means for illuminating the chamber, a curved sheet of translucent material forming the outer face of the chamber, said sheet having its inner face coated with a translucent reflecting substance, and a reflecting mirror having a non-transparent coating thereon, positioned in spaced relation to said curved sheet and forming the inner face of said chamber, said non-transparent reflecting mirror having a translucent design produced thereon by portions of the non-transparent coating being removed therefrom.

4. In an advertising display sign means forming a chamber having internal reflecting walls, means for illuminating the chamber, closure means for said chamber comprising a transparent sheet of material having a translucent reflecting coating on one face thereof, and a reflecting mirror interposed between said sheet and said chamber having a translucent design thereon, said sheet being shaped to produce in combination with said mirror multiple images of progressively changing sizes.

H. T. GORRIE. 

